Word: foolproof
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...fossils older than about 200,000 years. Fortunately, many specimens are found in sedimentary rock, laid down in layers through the ages. By developing ways of dating the rock layers, scientists have been able to approximate the age of fossils contained in them. But these methods are far from foolproof. The 200,000-year-old Chinese skull, in particular, is getting only a cautious reception from most scientists, in part because the dating technique used is still experimental...
...simple answers about what to do. Should women with the gene have mastectomies quickly or should they have frequent mammograms to detect cancer early? Neither choice is foolproof, and no studies of survival rates have been completed. "The literature is full of anecdotal reports of women who had breast cancer even after prophylactic surgery," says King. "If a woman has a mastectomy, she is doing it based on common sense and logic, not on statistical proof...
While no system or advice can ever be foolproof, here are some tips for mutual-fund investors from the perspective of common sense and seasoned market watchers...
...with Observer. But none of the probe's backup systems responded to their electronic pleas, and after Wednesday there was little hope that a response would ever come. The problem, according to space experts, is that despite elaborate backup systems, space missions have become too complex to be made foolproof. Says John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University: "NASA should be doing smaller missions, more rapidly and with more limited objectives. Then if you lose one, you haven't lost everything." In fact, such a plan may already be in the works: NASA has reportedly...
...even if the budget is not cut, the intelligence collection is foolproof and the analysis flawless, it can all still go wrong. In the summer of 1990, for example, CIA's National Intelligence Officer for Warning predicted flatly that Iraq was about to invade Kuwait. George Bush refused to believe it, preferring to accept the personal assurances he had received from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Middle Eastern leaders. In recent years, the agency has produced several full-dress estimates on Yugoslavia. Though the scenarios were correct, says a U.S. official, "they seem to have had almost no impact...